Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: #8 Lowguard Great Battle
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There are events like that during Bipa.
Cases where one person or a single party member triggers something that sets off the entire event.
[00:00:00]
Was this something similar? As the countdown on my notification window hit zero, an event window popped up in front of every user.
Ding!
[The final event of Midgard begins.]
[Loading video...]
Gilgamesh looked utterly baffled.
"What? An event right now? If we miss the chance to take Tereb because of this, are the MIA devs gonna take responsibility? Are these assholes biased toward Spaceking or what?"
"Highguard is the final land, after all."
"But why run the event now? They could wait till the siege is over."
"True, but..."
I'd gotten the event preview earlier, so it hadn't fazed me much. I figured it was probably tied to the siege anyway.
Ding!
[A server-wide quest has been generated.]
[All users may participate in this quest.]
This time, even I was shocked.
Hold up.
This is not okay.
"That's straight-up killing the siege! What the hell are these crazy bastards doing?!"
Gilgamesh spat out the curses on my behalf.
The guild members who'd been opening the underground shelter doors to guide the evacuating NPCs froze in place.
"Is this for real?"
"A server-wide quest at this point?"
"Did Spaceking lobby the devs or something? Like, maybe they have an insider in the guild?"
"No, seriously, this is bullshit."
If it weren't for the kid clinging to my arm, I would've unleashed a torrent of profanity myself.
The basement grew noisy.
As the guild members buzzed with anger over the sudden quest, Helcannon's little brother grew anxious and hugged me tighter.
"Shh. It's okay."
While I soothed the child for a moment, the event video began.
[When the fate of destruction loomed over Midgard]
[The priests of Wirentia, origin of humanity and long-time guardians of peace, foresaw this early—]
Users chattered.
"Isn't this the tutorial video?"
"So this is the final event."
The Bipa tutorial goes something like this.
Wirentia: origin of Midgard's humanity, but stuck as a peace-loving kingdom in a war game, so it got zero love from players.
Inside a temple, high-ranking priests of Wirentia began a grave discussion.
These priests had learned early, through various prophecies, that Midgard's destruction and civilization reset were inevitable.
Midgard's downfall had two causes.
First: The heinous criminals banished to the northern continent over centuries would build their own kingdom and invade, destroying the internal civilizations.
Second: Lowguard's demons would exploit the chaos, ravage Midgard, and conquer it.
[Thus, the priests of Wirentia and all the land gods of Midgard united their will.]
[All beings of Midgard agreed to offer this land as a 'stage,' inviting foreigners from distant special civilizations to accrue karma and alter their fated doom.]
Yeah, that was the story.
Then, as if urging us to hurry up and deal with the northern trash, the northern territories were the first to unlock at siege start.
Spaceking had snatched almost all of them.
Right on cue, Dart appeared in the video.
"Whoa. Dart's face in an official Bipa event video."
"They really lobbied, huh?"
"It's a special event, after all."
"Spotlighting the guilds left at the end?"
"The siege won't just end like this, right?"
While users muttered, in the video, Spaceking's guild master Dart stabbed an NPC to death and kicked the corpse off the ramparts.
A mountain of bodies.
Heirs to vicious criminals: countless NPCs dying.
Then Gilgamesh appeared.
Goldbunker, first to claim Midgard's center, began exploiting subjugated territory NPCs like slaves.
They funneled that money into bolstering military and commerce, enriching the central nations.
Later, Goldbunker gradually granted NPCs freedom to build a civilized nation, but initially, it was classic war civ play.
When Fullminak showed up last, the scene suddenly felt like a genre shift.
"Oh. Us."
Kali murmured with a grin.
Three women.
Me, Maya, and Kali lounging leisurely in our first conquest, Wirentia—it stirred some deep nostalgia.
Maya tending a vegetable garden with Wirentia's NPCs.
Kali diligently training skills in the training grounds.
Me, deep in a mountain temple, conversing with high priests.
Back then, I was lost in the VR game world without a care, but looking back, it was me seeking wisdom about this world from Wirentia's most revered NPCs.
They were incredibly kind, gentle, and wise.
Hanging with Wirentia's high priests taught me the world's wisdom, and alongside Kali, I joined sieges, endlessly subjugating neighbors.
The scene shifted.
[Great gods from afar]
Wirentia's highest priest.
A living sanctity.
The girl kneeling quietly in prayer before the altar slowly raised her head and opened her eyes.
In the video, my proud subjugated hero, Messiah, rose and pointed east toward Midgard.
[Save this world with the divine power you have remembered.]
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!
[The final special quest now begins.]
[Midgard has granted you the status of gods from afar, providing this land and omnipotent opportunities to do anything. Now, it's time to fulfill your final duty in return.]
[Your mission: Completely eradicate Lowguard from this land and bring peace.]
[Quest:]
[Prove your worth.]
The video ended, and the ground began to rumble.
Rrrrrumble—
"What, what is it?!"
"Earthquake?!"
"Wave? It's a wave, right?!"
Ding!
[Lowguard's monsters overflow!]
* * *
["The real-time Bipa siege turning into the ultimate thrill ride! After the epic Karba total assault reversal, we're in a breather when bam—event time!"]
["What kind of event?"]
["No clue. Video's loading now."]
["Quick Midgard map check first."]
A Midgard map appeared center-screen.
Goldbunker held three territories west of Weichen: Iskasha, Kandel, Lopelta.
Fullminak flanked Weichen north-south: Karba, Weichen, Peronta, Pashu, Perontia—five total.
Spaceking, pushed north, held Tereb and Avrilia—two.
["Fullminak's on a roll, steamrolling."]
["Gotta push to Avrilia."]
["Obviously? But an event mid-siege—what's the play?"]
["Yeah. Events during sieges aren't common. I think only twice so far... Oh, event starting."]
Ding!
[A server-wide quest has been generated.]
[All users may participate in this quest.]
The broadcasters' eyes bulged.
["Huh?"]
["Eh?"]
["S-server-wide quest? All users can join?"]
["What about the siege?! The siege that was going so hot—what the fuck, you insane devs—!!"]
Outraged by the absurd turn, casters fumed, and viewers there to stan Kaisha—or watch siege highlights—raged too.
Meanwhile, the event video kept playing on-screen.
And at the end.
[Quest:]
[Prove your worth.]
The video closed, and the ground roared massively.
BoomboomBOOM—
Ding!
[Lowguard's monsters overflow!]
Lowguard lay farthest east on the Midgard map.
West to east:
Highguard.
Midgard.
Lowguard.
The final one was a vast deathland beyond Midgard's eastern sea.
That's where all monsters invading Midgard originated.
Separated by sea, they shouldn't cross if far enough.
But Lowguard's central continent stretched like an arm, greedily reaching toward Midgard, touching between Tereb and Karba in the east center.
At low tide, when that land exposed, Lowguard spewed monsters onto the continent.
["A quest now? Devs are nuts, right? Totally?"]
["Mi, insane...?"]
BoomBOOM—
Swarmswarm—
Monsters on an insane scale surged toward Midgard like waves.
Lowguard's black land seemed to charge wholesale.
["Karba and Tereb survivable?"]
["They're map-erased at this rate."]
Then, along the eastern coast bordering Lowguard, countless magic circles lit up.
Whirr, whirr, whirr—
Zuuu—
Flaaash!!
The following sight silenced the pissed-off comment sections and casters mid-rant.
Cheers swelled.
Whoa,
Whoooaaa,
Wooooaaaah—!!
Users poured from each circle, weapons drawn, charging ferociously.
Kill 'em all!!
Amid the din, a faint familiar sound made casters' jaws drop.
["...Ko, Korean, right? Scale's so un-Korean it feels like a foreign flick?"]
["That many users waiting in-game?"]
["Highguard's got tons of bars."]
VR games are wild: booze actually gets you tipsy.
Saving real-life liquor cash, countless Bipa users drank game-money booze in Highguard taverns.
Sieges boomed Highguard bar business.
Goldbunker's Highguard taverns offered live siege viewing with betting—standard fare.
["Highguard, current status..."]
Caster checked chat; a small screen showed Highguard briefly.
Highguard.
Called the gods' land from Midgard, but really the hub for tutorial starts, basic quests, gear buys—game basics.
Highguard streets blazed with neon-like global alerts for major quests.
[Quest:]
[Prove your worth.]
[Chance to prove your existence.]
[Join the Lowguard Great Battle?]
[Yes teleports you.]
Nearly every Highguard user hit [Yes] and vanished like receding tide.
["..."]
Stunned caster silently panned to Lowguard.
In that blink, Lowguard was a colossal battlefield.
Dual waves.
User waves clashed with monster waves, sweeping and being swept.
Rawr!!
Oyeee!!!
Whaaaaaaa—!!!!
Black monsters assaulted users; users hacked monsters with weapons. No movie VFX could match this chaotic grandeur.
Where Lowguard met Midgard.
'Devil's Fingertip': gods vs. monsters waves collided.
Highguard users, fingering drinks while sieging, now battle-ready, grinned like maniacs.
Eyes bloodshot.
["What is this. Event with no warning?"]
["Whoa! I wanna go!!"]
["Me too, damn, what the hell!"]
Casters looked genuinely dying.
Then, mass teleport circles bloomed in the eastern skies over Midgard's edge. Siege stars arrived.
Comments flooded.
[She's here]
[The One calls us]
[Oh god]
[Wooo!!!]
[Gazua!!!]
[Joining]
[Fuck yeah going now]
[Casters so pitiful lol]
[Too hyped hands shaking.....]
[Lowbie but glad I have an ID]
[Insane love thisㅠㅠ]
[Made Bipa ID for Kaisha stanning—godsend...]
[Ha... Guildmaster I'm going......]
[Kyaa! Charge!]
[Ogod! Trusted Kaisha and heaven awaits!]
[I'll just watchㅠㅠ Even if I go I'll pop instantly can't glimpse goddess lolㅋㅠ Have ID but instant death...]
[So excited]
[Devs deserve raise lololol Siege-hyped users full-power join lololol]
[Off to church]
[Catch ya]
[Casters fighting]
[Good luck]
Viewership plummeted visibly.
Bipa users watching live streamed out en masse for Lowguard Great Battle.
["Shivaaa—!!!"]
["Kwaaaah—!!!"]
Agonized casters howled.